Comparison of definitions of "homo-" words

Click for symbol explanations, some comments, an example of how to interpret the data, or dictionary abbreviations.

Dictionary				Homograph					Homonym					Homophone
				Splg	Mng	Orig	Pron		Splg	Mng	Orig	Pron		Splg	Mng	Orig	Pron
AHD4 see note 1		and or		S -	D -	D -	Ds -		So -	D -	- -	S -		Ds -	D -	D -	S -
Ch93		and or		S -	- d	- d	- d		Sm -	D -	D -	S -		D -	D -	- -	S -
CIDE see note 2		and or		S -	D -	- -	X -		S -	D -	- -	- -		- db	- db	- -	S -
MEU3		and or		S -	- d	- d	- -		- s	D -	- -	- s		- d	- d	- d	S -
MWCD		and or		S -	- d	- d	- d		S -	D -	- -	S -		- d	- d	- d	S -
NSOED		and or		S -	- d	- d	- d		S -	D -	D -	- -		- d	- d	- d	S -
OCEL see note 3		and or		S -	D -	D -	D -		- s	D -	- -	- s		D -	D -	- -	S -
OED		and or		S -	D -	D -	- -		- -	D -	- -	S -		- -	- d	- d	S -
Ox Amer		and ar		S -	- d	- d	- -		- s	D -	- -	- s		- -	- -	- -	S -
RHWUD		and or		S -	D -	Du -	X -		S -	D -	- -	S -		X -	D -	- -	S -
W3NID		and or		S -	- d	- d	- d		S -	D -	- -	S -		- d	- d	- d	S -
WNID		and Or		S -	D -	D -	- -		- -	D -	- -	S -		Do -	D -	- -	S -
WNID2		and or		S -	D -	D -	- -		Do -	D -	D -	S -		Du -	D -	- -	S -
WNWCD		and or		S -	D -	D -	Sm -		Du -	D -	D -	S -		- -	- -	- -	S -
IMHO see note 4		and or		S -	- -	D -	- -		S -	D -	- -	S -		D -	- -	- -	S -
Dictionary				Splg	Mng	Orig	Pron		Splg	Mng	Orig	Pron		Splg	Mng	Orig	Pron
				Homograph					Homonym					Homophone

Note 1:

AHD3 definitions are the same as those in AHD4.

Note 2:

CIDE goes to The Cambridge Dictionary of American English for the definition of "homonym".

Note 3:

OCEL splits "homonym" three ways:

1. Words that sound and look alike
2. Words that sound alike but don't look alike (called "homophones")
3. Words that look alike but don't sound alike (called "homographs")

Note 4:

"IMHO" means, as usual, "in my humble opinion". The definitions in that row are my preferences.

I prefer to have "homograph" defined nearly the same way it's defined in the OED, the only difference being that I don't think words with the same meaning should be excluded from being homographs. I believe that the most interesting homograph pair of all is one where the two words have come from two completely different etyma and have converged to have the same spelling, pronunciation and meaning. Homographs of that sort are probably extremely rare in English, but someone has proposed "biddy" as a candidate. It can refer to a woman. In one derivation, "biddy" has come as a nickname for "Bridget". In the other derivation it has come from an earlier word for a chicken. Dictionaries don't support this theory unequivocally, but neither do they firmly deny that it's valid.

I dislike a requirement that homographs must be pronounced differently. This would, for example, keep the two meanings of "repair" from comprising a homograph pair.

I like the OCEL point of view that treats "homonym" as a three-way split. (See note 3.)

I prefer not to require that homophones have different meanings. This would prevent "tyre" and "tire" from being homophones, and I think they should be.

Symbol explanations:

D	Different (in "and" row)
d	different (in "or" row)
db	different meaning or different spelling or both
Do	often different
Ds	Sometimes different
Du	Usually different
Mng	Meaning
Orig	Origin (etymology)
Pron	Pronunciation
S	Same (in "and" row)
s	Same (in "or" row)
Sm	Maybe same
So	Often same
Splg	Spelling
Su	Usually same
X	Either same or different

Dictionary abbreviations:

AHD3	American Heritage Dictionary Third Edition
AHD4	American Heritage Dictionary Fourth Edition
Ch93	Chambers Dictionary 1993
CIDE	Cambridge International Dictionary of English
CODL	Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
IMHO	See note 4
MEU3	New Fowler's Modern English Usage
MWCD	Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
NSOED	New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
OCEL	Oxford Companion to the English Language
OED	Oxford English Dictionary
Ox Amer	Oxford American Dictionary
RHWUD	Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
W3NID	Webster's Third New International Dictionary
WNID	Webster's New International Dictionary (first edition)
WNID2	Webster's New International Dictionary Second Edition
WNWCD	Webster's New World College Dictionary

Comments:

The only two things that are consistent over all of the sources are

1. Every source requires that homophones be pronounced alike.
2. Every source requires that homographs be spelled alike.
3. All sources require that homonyms have different meanings.

Beyond that, the definitions are so diverse that it's not easy to make any summarizing statements about them.

Interpretation example:

As an example of how to interpret the data, I will convert each part of the Chambers 93 entry to a textual description:

• Homographs will have the same spelling and will have the same meaning or origin or pronunciation.
• Homonyms may have the same spelling and will have different meanings and different origins and the same pronunciation.
• Homophones will have different spellings and different meanings and the same pronunciation.